Noah Gragson has built his reputation as a driver with a happy-go-lucky personality off the track. From team videos during his time at Stewart-Haas Racing with teammates Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Preece to moments alongside team owner Tony Stewart, Gragson often appeared to be the one cracking jokes and keeping spirits high.
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He has also shown a taste for off-track adventures. At Talladega Superspeedway last season, Gragson teamed up with automotive YouTuber Westen Champlin for a look at the infield scenes that have long been part of race weekend lore.
Yet beneath the surface, his road through the sport has carried more than its share of bumps. In 2019, his father, Scott Gragson, was arrested for DUI following a crash in a Las Vegas neighborhood that resulted in a death.
The case led to imprisonment for the elder Gragson. However, Noah has rarely addressed the topic in public. That changed during the latest season of NASCAR: Full Speed, where the driver openly spoke about his father and the impact of the situation on his life.
During the 12 Questions segment interview with Jeff Gluck, Gragson said that the reason he decided to open up now is that “The time has passed where I’ve become more comfortable with the situation.”
“I just never really talked about it publicly because I wasn’t really comfortable with it. Now I’ve kind of taken the approach of, ‘That’s a part of my journey. That’s a chapter in my life that makes me who I am.’ So it’s kind of owning, ‘Hey, this is the situation that I’m in, and this is part of my life.’ I try not to hide anything. I try to be an open book.”
“I felt like Full Speed was the biggest platform I’ve been on to give people a behind-the-scenes look at who I am as a person and the driver I am, and the son and brother and friend I am to people. It just seemed like it was the appropriate time for me to tell that story,” he continued.
The hesitation around the topic had surfaced before as well. Gragson noted that he had been invited more than once to appear on The Dale Jr. Download, and the podcast is known for conversations that dig deep into both career and life away from the track. But he declined those invitations because he expected the conversation to bring up his father, and he did not feel ready for it at the time.
The shift happened during a meeting with producers developing the series with Amazon Prime Video. During a Zoom planning call, Gragson told them he was ready to answer any questions they had. By doing so, he opened the door for a part of his story to appear on screen and in clear view of the fans.
